'Nothing will ever be the same' for Marli van Breda

Henri van Breda was convicted and sentenced to three life terms behind bars plus and additional 15 years for attempted murder and 12 months for obstructing the ends of justice on Thursday June 7 2018.

Marli van Breda‚ who heard less than a week ago that her brother Henri got three life sentences for an attempt on her life‚ will have to wait to hear if her curatorship under advocate Louise Buikman will continue.

This is despite the fact that she is an adult.

Marli was 16 years old when the attacks happened and turns 20 this year.

Her brother was also found guilty of the brutal murder of their parents and other brother Rudi.

A report was scheduled to be heard in chambers in the High Court in Cape Town on Monday‚ but was postponed to July 31.

State prosecutor Susan Galloway‚ summarising the hardships faced by Marli in court last week ahead of the sentencing‚ said that media attention was only “one small part” of the hardships the survivor had faced.

“She was a vulnerable school girl who now has to grow up alone‚ knowing that her brother killed her parents and sibling. She has lost her family‚ home‚ and everything else‚ and nothing will ever be the same again for her‚” Galloway said.

Marli was the only survivor of the gruesome axe killing at 12 Goske Street at the De Zalze estate on January 27 2015.

Within minutes of the news spreading across the world‚ her privacy became a subject of major concern to those in the extended family.

Galloway said in court earlier that Marli’s brother had left her to suffer for three hours before calling for help on that gruesome morning and said the fact that she did survive was not due to “mercy but a miracle”.

She lived – but not to tell the tale as the brutal attack left her with retrograde amnesia.

Henri van Breda was convicted and sentenced to three life terms behind bars plus and additional 15 years for attempted murder and 12 months for obstructing the ends of justice on Thursday June 7 2018.

Marli‚ in a further bid to protect her privacy‚ had declined to give a victim impact statement to Galloway ahead of her brother being sentenced last week.

Buikman was appointed as Marli’s curator by the court three years ago after the murders‚ and this was extended in October 2016‚ even though by then she had turned 18.

Until the postponement date‚ the existing terms still apply‚ and stipulate that Buikman is the only person with whom the media can liaise when it comes to Marli.

It was also stated that the media shall “exercise exceptional care and consideration when reporting about Marli”.